“Wow,” escapes Haley, who feels her cheeks instantly blush. Will she ever learn to control what pops from her mouth?
“Hey,” the woman says, smiling. As if she didn’t hear. Or is used to it. “Haley, right? I’m Carrie’s friend Mona.” Freckles that match the hair spatter her nose and cheeks like rust--colored paint. “I’m part of the moving crew.”
Haley steps back and motions the Mona person inside. The room looks like thieves broke in and didn’t find what they wanted. She’s been trying to collect Jenny’s things without the aid of boxes or duffels or even Jenny, for that matter, and all she’s managed to do is yank stuff from drawers and closets and heap it on the vacant bed. Her roommate hasn’t stepped foot in the building since Gail and Carrie hustled her out the other night. Right after the three of them met with Carole Patterson.
“I begged you not to report it!” Jenny practically shrieked. Not at the older girls; at Haley. They’d found Jenny wrapped in a blanket, curled on her bed, windows shut and blinds drawn. Even in the dim light Haley could read betrayal in her furious eyes.
“Jen, we had no choice,” Haley began, but stopped when she felt Gail’s foot pressing on hers. Let us do the talking, that foot said.
Carrie moved right to the bed and wound her arms around Jenny. “Girl, we’ve got this. We’ve got this.”
Jenny squirmed, trying to free herself from the embrace. “This will only make it worse! Don’t you see?”
“This will make it better,” Carrie continued, her voice a smooth contrast to Jenny’s. Haley could see Carrie tighten her hold. “This is how you fight back.”
“That’s what you said before,” Jenny accused. “You told me if I reported the rape, things would get better. So I reported, and now he’s stalking me! What’ll he do now that you’ve reported the stalking?”
Gail pulled one of the desk chairs next to the bed and sat. Haley still hadn’t budged from her spot near the door.
“Jen, there’s more going on than you realize,” Gail began.
Carrie widened her eyes, shaking her head slightly at Gail. No, Haley could see her mouth. Not now.
“Hell yeah,” Haley said, surprising herself. “She needs to know!” Something about the older girl swooping in, her body a wrapped barrier between them and Jenny, had bugged her. And now spoon--feeding Jenny information in bits? Like she was some child in a high chair? It loosened Haley’s frozen feet and silent tongue. Carrie didn’t look pleased, but she released her hold on Jenny and didn’t argue as Haley moved to her own bed and sat.
“Jen,” Haley began, “have you ever heard of an app called The Board?”
“No,” Jenny said. Quieter. She’d ratcheted the yelling down to something more like nervous suspicion.
“Me neither, until this afternoon,” Haley said. “It’s an online bulletin board where people post anonymously about random stuff. A topic is usually started as a thread by someone to get a conversation going.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Carrie commented, unable to help herself.
“Shh,” Gail warned her.
“You put a topic out there,” Haley continued, ignoring Carrie, “and people weigh in. Like the comments section for a blog or online newspaper. Anyway, it can get rough. You know how those comments sections are.”
“Why are you telling me this?” Jenny asked.
Haley took a deep breath. “Someone has started a thread about you.”
“About me? Why?”
“Because of the investigation. The thread is called ‘Lying Bitch.’ ”
It was hard to look at the expression on Jenny’s face. Torqued. Like she’d just been kicked in the stomach.
“Show me,” she said, her voice small, but her hand held out, insistent. Gail glanced at Carrie, who turned her head, refusing to make eye contact. Gail passed Jenny the phone anyway.
Thirty seconds into scanning the posts, Jenny’s eyes grew round and she gasped. She tossed the phone on the bed as if it were hot.
“Why?” she exclaimed. She stared at it, then stared at them. “I get him. He’s mad. He wants to intimidate me. But everyone else? They don’t know what happened! They don’t even know me!” She began to sob. Wild, choking cries that shook her.
As if on cue, all three moved toward her. Jenny waved them off, lifting one arm in a blocking motion, sharp elbow pointed out. As if their touch would be another violation she just couldn’t bear at that moment.
“Now, finally, now, are they going to do something?” she demanded.
Haley knew exactly the “they” Jenny was talking about. “They’re trying. Carole called the college’s IT office as soon as we told her, and they blocked The Board from the server, but anyone with a data plan can still access it.”
“They’re also asking the company that runs The Board to put a virtual fence around MacCallum,” Gail added. “But that might take a couple days.”
Jenny turned to Carrie. “He’ll go now, won’t he? Jordan? They’ll have to throw him out after this, right?”
Carrie looked grim. “Carole’s supposedly interrogating his sorry ass right now. We’ll see what happens.”